Fall to Grace
by purpleraincloud
Summary: Can a love consummated in moonlight survive the harsh light of day? A series of events may force Dee and Ryo to find out. CHAPTER 2 Up! Ryo’s investigation of several missing children leads to more than he bargained for.
1. Chapter One

Fall to Grace

(1/?): Left Alone

Summary: Can a love consummated in moonlight, survive the harsh light of day? A series of events may force Dee and Ryo to find out. 

Warnings: character deaths, violence, dark themes, language, sexual content

A/N: Set after the seventh manga. Kind of an experiment, feedback would be greatly appreciated. 

_You see me hanging round   
starting to swear about this black hole of a dark field   
and silently within hands touching skin sharp   
breaks my disease and I can breathe   
  
and all of your ways   
all you dream falls on me   
it falls on me   
and your beautiful sky   
the light you breathe  
falls on me   
it falls on me _

_-Fuel, Falls on Me_

* * *

            Until he was fifteen, Eel Sanchez could watch rival gang members pump slugs into one another from the window of his mother's apartment in Queens. But that was not what drove Eel to murder four men in cold blood in New York City one cold February night. No, when Ryo Maclane first looked into his blue grey eyes he knew he was an evil man. Dee Laytner knew even before then.

* * *

            It was early. Too damn early for his door to be ringing. Dee Laytner hadn't woken up in his own bed in over a month, preferring the clean sheets and the warm body of his partner pressed up against him. But Ryo was in California with Bikky, checking out colleges on the West Coast and wasn't due back till Friday. Dee insisted that he stay at his old place until they returned, telling Ryo he'd just make a mess of his apartment in his absence. In truth, Dee could not sleep in the warm bed that smelled of the blonde and awaken to the stark truth that he just wasn't there. 

            "Godbedamned, who the hell is it?" 

            He threw on some sweats before getting the door, remembering Ryo's complaint that he had scared poor old Mrs. Johansen the last time he got the door in his underoos. The person that stood behind the now open door, however, was not Ryo's landlady, but a young man in his early twenties who was not, Dee concluded after a few more seconds of careful inspection, that bad looking.

            "Detective Laytner?"

            Dee squinted at the badge in the younger man's hands and ran a hand through his cork screw hair. 

            "Yeesh, I thought you were going to sell me cookies or something. You look twelve."

             "Agent Marsden, CIA" the young man replied, looking very much, Dee thought, as if he were sizing him up for a coffin. "I apologize for the hour, but I have a few questions for you, may I come in?"

            Dee shrugged, pushing some clutter away with his heel and gesturing for the man to enter. Ryo spent the weekend before he left cleaning up Dee's apartment, much to other man's chagrin, Dee would have preferred they spend that time in his bed. 

            _"Ya' have to come back as soon as ya' can, a'ight?," Dee told him in an almost pleading tone, drawing the smaller body towards him. "Leave the brat in San Francisco if ya' have to." Bikky, of course, drove his booted foot through his at the statement, but Ryo merely smiled benignly and promised to call when they arrived at SFO._

            Sometimes, Ryo's aloof personality irritated Dee. Ryo, for the most part, acted too much as if he would get along just fine without him. Dee, on the other hand, found himself obsessing over Ryo's whereabouts whenever the man was not within ear shot of him. 

            Dee shook his head as if to clear it, the brown haired young man in his apartment, Marsden, eyed him strangely.

            "Detective Laytner? Did you hear what I just said?"

            "No, no I didn't," Dee admitted, massaging his temples with his fingertips. "Sorry, it's just...it's too damn early." In actuality, it was thirty minutes passed the time Ryo usually allowed Dee to sleep till, but Dee was not above feigning tiredness if it would get the other gentlemen out of his apartment faster.

            The younger man smiled patiently, adjusting his position on the couch so that he was directly eye level with Dee.

            "We have reason to believe an old associate of yours, a Mr. Sanchez, may be hiding somewhere here in New York City."

            "Mr. Sanchez...I don't know a Sanchez," Dee answered, searching his memory for confirmation.

            "Oh, I think you do," Marsden explained, pulling out a manila folder from his briefcase.  Dee balked at the photograph inside.

            "Eel..."

            _On the street, you tell nobody your full name, if you can even still remember what it is. Dee knew that and those that didn't, well they usually didn't last very long. Eel was a skinny kid a bit younger than Dee was who did odd jobs for the bosses on the street: selling drugs, pimping, nothing was below him. Dee had to admit that he admired the boy, he would survive if nothing else. _

_            It wasn't until years after Penguin took him in did he begin to see what the street really turned you into and made the decision that it wasn't what he wanted. There was no one in his mind who demonstrated that quite like Eel. _

            "So you do recognize him?"

            Dee nodded, volunteering no information. He wasn't asked any.

            "We had several agents go undercover to try and infiltrate his gang and gain intel on a series of high profile assassination attempts we believe he's masterminding. Two of our agents were never heard from again and most recently the body of one was found in an alleyway in New York City with his throat slit."

            There were pictures. A whole lot of them, many graphic enough to make even Dee's lead lined stomach churn.

 "The Eel I knew was a lapdog. Lifting his leg and pissing in turf he knew didn't belong to him. A dog he is. A murderer, thief and grand scum of the earth definitely, but he ain't no criminal mastermind."

"He's come a long way from his roots as a street rat. He may still be a bat boy, but he's doing it in the big leagues now." 

"So your boys at the agency have failed and you want me to give it go?" Dee asked, disbelief written on his face. "Invite him over for coffee, chat about old times?" 

            Agent Marsden again gave his most irritatingly patient smile. "No, Detective Laytner, we have something more creative in mind for you. Are you interested?"

            The sound of a gunshot and a child's scream still ringing in his ears, Dee agreed readily enough. "It has to be cleared with my boss first, the precinct and such." 

            "All taken care of."

            "So now what?"

* * *

            "Moshi moshi. Maclane speaking."

            Dee found it incredibly sexy and cute the way Ryo answered the phone. 

            "Hey, love." 

            "Are you calling from a pay phone or something? I don't recognize the number." 

            "Uh, yeah, about that," Dee squeaked. One tended to forget how observant Ryo really was until these kinds of situations. "I'm calling from D.C."

            A pause that Dee took to mean that Ryo knew he didn't mean the dining commons at the precinct. 

            "What are you doing there?" Ryo asked his voice full of unconcealed concern. Not that Ryo could ever real conceal anything from anyone, lest of all Dee. It was one of the things Dee loved about the man. Growing up on the street and then becoming a cop, Dee knew just how rare and beautiful sincerity really was. 

            "I kind of got assigned to a new case. I needed to chat with someone in Washington so I flew in yesterday."

            There was an expected silence that Dee knew meant Ryo was knitting his brows, deep in thought. "Rose put you on a case with a paper trail in D.C.?"

            "Uh...it's not really a NYPD case."

            "Then what kind of case is it," Ryo asked calmly, stubbornly holding on to his patience.

            "Apparently, someone from my hood back in the days has hit it big time. He may be up to something, you know, as in 'threat to national security' level of things."

"Dee..." 

"Look, I can't really say more than that. I called because well, I love you and I miss you." And I'm about to lie to you now and I know you won't understand why, but I hope you'll forgive me anyway, Dee added silently. 

* * *

            "Ryo? Are you okay?" Bikky asked putting down the CSU mug he was holding in his hands to stare into the dark eyes of his guardian. Ryo, Bikky noted, had been unusually quite and reserved since his short phone conservation with Dee. If the other man had offended Ryo in anyway, Bikky fumed, unconsciously balling his hands into fists.

            "I'm worried about him, Bikky," Ryo admitted freely. "He sounded distant on the phone, like he was doing an about-face and shutting me out."

            "Well then, call the bastard back and I'll make him talk to you," Bikky retorted. 

            "I can't."

            _"I'll be in D.C. for at least a week, so I won't be able to pick you up at the airport like I said. Sorry, babe. You also will probably have difficulty getting in touch with me. That can't be helped. Don't call me, I'll call you."_

            Ryo picked up the mug Bikky put down and brought it over to the register to pay for it, idly staring at the void until his vision began to cloud over. 

            "Damn it," Bikky cursed. "I'll kill the pervert." 


	2. Chapter Two

Going Under (2/?)

Warnings: (cont'd from first chapter) VERY dark themes

Summary: Ryo's investigation of several missing children leads to more than he bargained for. 

            Ryo cursed his idiocy as his eyes scanned through the carousel of luggage circling him and Bikky.

            "You thought he'd still maybe show, huh?" Bikky spoke honestly and that was what forestalled the harsh words on the tip of Ryo's tongue. Instead, Ryo managed a small grin for the blonde boy for whom he had made this voyage to California for. Bikky smiled sadly back at him and shook his head, "Don't worry Ryo, so did I."

            Ryo lugged the last of their things off the carousel and put his arm affectionately around the other boy. "Come on, let's go home." 

* * *

            "Randy?"

            Ryo's eyes glanced wearily upward from the file he had been staring at for the past half hour. In the past four months, six children had gone missing from the lower East side. Each case fit the same M.O., but that was as far as anybody could get. No suspects. No leads. Just the photographs of four of the missing children on his desk, their eyes empty and sad. Not even Ryo had the heart to believe that they may still be alive. 

            "Hey Riz. What's up?" He offered half-heartedly, throwing the file back on his desk and sifting a pale hand through his flaxen hair. 

            "Where's Dee? I haven't seen him at the station for several days now."

            Ryo's brows knitted in irritation. "I'm not his keeper, how should I know?" It had not been the first time someone had asked him about Dee's whereabouts; in fact, it had been the thirteenth time this week alone. Fourteen days, Ryo fumed, Dee had been gone for fourteen days without so much as a phone call. Catching the stricken look on the young woman's face, Ryo's softened a bit.

            "I'm sorry, Riz. These missing kids, Dee's absence…it's all starting to get to me, you know?" 

            Riz smiled, accepting Ryo's apology readily enough. "It's all right Ryo. I'd be edgy if I were you too. Keep your head up kid, all right?"

            Ryo returned her smiled. "I'm trying, Riz. I'm trying."

            "Yo Ryo!"

            Drake stuck his head through the door of the office he and Dee shared. "There's someone here to see you, she says it's regarding the missing kids case." At the news, Ryo's attention immediately reverted back to work. 

            "Really? That's great. Send her in."

            A pretty, young African-American woman walked in, listening attentively to Drake's introduction of "Detective Maclane" and following Ryo's own instructions to have a seat.

            "Would you like something to drink? We have coffee, juice and tea." Ryo offered kindly. The woman seemed nervous, unable to meet Ryo's gaze, instead she focused on tracing the floral pattern of her skirt with her long fingernails. She nodded reluctantly, watching as Ryo rose and poured her a cup of coffee. Ryo studied the woman as she lifted the cup to her lips and sipped. She couldn't have been much older than some of the older missing children, Ryo realized in amazement.

            "Drake says you have some information regarding the case I'm currently investigating."

            A nod and another careful sip from the Styrofoam cup of coffee.

            Ryo rose from his chair and kneeled before the seated woman so that he was just slightly below eye level of her. She eyed him curiously, some of the fear leaving her face.

            "Would you mind telling me what you know? We're at a police station. You're safe here, okay? No one can hurt you here." 

            After a pause, she nodded, placing her cup down on Ryo's desk. "My name is Amanda Johansen," she spoke softly, a slight Southern accent in her words. "I moved to New York from Charlotte last year. One of the kids, Eric, lived right next door to me. The neighborhood is very poor. Most of the kids have both parents working every hour of the day just to make ends meet and sometimes I offered to watch the children. On some of these occasions, I've noticed that there was this one man who was always watching me. Real creepy guy, you know? When I heard Eric went missing…" The woman paused and her face quickly crumpled into her hands. Ryo stroked her arm encouragingly, rising for and soon returning with a glass of water. 

            She took the glass eagerly, a look of gratitude in her eyes. "You have to be strong now, Amanda," he told her. "For Eric's sake."

            Amanda nodded, her fingers fiddling again with the fabric of her skirt. "There's a man who lives two buildings over. I think someone said his name was Kenny. He used to watch as I took care of Eric and his brothers. The way he looked at us…When I heard Eric went missing I just knew…I knew it had to be him." Amanda turned to Ryo suddenly, her eyes wide and frightened. "It's him. I know it. I can't prove it but…I know he's responsible for Eric's disappearance."

            "Okay, okay," Ryo whispered soothingly. "Calm down Amanda. It's all right."

            "What if he's dead, Detective Maclane?" She asked in a voice that demanded a response, even as Ryo could feel her trembling at the prospect of what that answer may be. "My God…My God…My God…" Ryo heard Amanda chant over and over again until she stopped and the room fell into a dead silence.

* * *

            "Do you have the warrant with you?" Ryo asked unfastening his seat belt as the car pulled over.

            J.J. sifted through a pile of documents in the back of the car and pulled out the search warrant signed that morning by a presiding judge. "Here it is," he replied handing the document over to Ryo. 

            "Chill out man, we'll get this guy," Drake assured the blonde detective as he exited their patrol car.

            Ryo smiled and nodded, but the tension remained as he looked up appraisingly at the apartment building before them. 

"Yeesh. What an ugly piece of work." Drake commented, pulling off his shades. 

 The building did look like it was made about a hundred years ago and never renovated, but that was not a particularly unique feature of the residential complexes in this particular side of the neighborhood. Actually, comparatively, this was probably one of the nicest pieces of architecture in the neighborhood. At least it was still standing. 

"Forensics says they're on the way," J.J. told them, hanging up his cell phone. Behind them another patrol car pulled to a stop.  

"Kenneth Andrew Bosworth lives in apartment 2B." Drake informed the officers that were arriving shortly behind them, but Ryo was already moving.

Images of Amanda and the missing children flooded his head. He banged on the apartment door once…twice.

"New York City police open up!" Ryo bellowed in a tone harsher than one would expect to come from the normally quiet, introverted detective. When a minute passed without an answer, Ryo signaled Drake and J.J. to cover him as he kicked the door in. 

As they swarmed in, a slightly overweight, middle-aged man strolled out to greet them half dressed in a crumpled pair of shorts.

"Now was that really necessary?" 

* * *

            Ryo could hear the phone ringing as he unlocked the door to his apartment late that night. Had it been any other day he would have rushed to pick it up, hoping it may be Dee calling to check in on him. But today was different. Today he just didn't give a damn.

"Mosh Moshi. This is the Maclane residence. Sorry you missed us, but if you would please leave a message for Randy or Bikky after the tone, we would be happy to promptly return your call. Thank you."

            Beep!

            "Ryo? Are you there? It's Drake. Forensics just left."

Hope surged in Ryo for a moment, only to be crushed soon thereafter. "Sorry man, they came up with nothing. Take some rest, okay? You seem to really need it and if you need any help, don't hesitate to call. Okay. Late."

Throwing his keys onto the kitchen counter, he found a note taped there for him from Bikky telling him he was over at Cal's for the night. Of course Bikky was at Cal's. 'Why is it that it's when you're at your lowest point that you find yourself all alone,' Ryo thought a bit bitterly. 

* * *

            creak….creak…creak…

            "Damn, that floorboard is annoying," Drake commented as he watched the forensics team dissect Kenneth Bosworth's apartment, himself flipping through boxes of documents found in the suspect's bedroom. 

            "If you have any information of the whereabouts of Eric Waters or any of the other missing children, you should come clear now Mr. Bosworth. The D.A. is much more likely to offer you a plea bargain if you cooperate with us," Ryo told the older man politely, effectively containing the small part of him that wanted to pounce on the man and demand he tell him where the missing children were. 

            "I'm sorry detective, but I really don't know what this is all about. You can search the apartment all you like, but you're not going to find what you're looking for."

            Bosworth jumped slightly as the loathing Ryo felt for the man suddenly became apparent in his dark eyes, but as quickly as it was there, it was gone. The mask of calm and collectivity most people were used to seeing on the young man's face crashed back down and Ryo promptly walked away. The floorboards creaking with each step he took. 

* * *

            Ryo couldn't sleep. 

Somehow, Dee always managed to take his mind off any particularly disturbing or frustrating case that the two undertook. Whether it was with a touch here or a whispered word in his ear…Dee made the world seem…better. Without him…Well, it just hurt. Opening the first drawer of his night stand, he fumbled with it until he felt the cool, metallic key there between his fingers. It was the spare key to Dee's apartment.

"I'm so weak. It's not like he's there… it's just his apartment…it just…"

Smells like Dee…feels like Dee…so much more so than his apartment currently did.

Resolved that he probably wasn't going to get any sleep tonight regardless, Ryo rose from his bed and was out the door. 

If he tried hard enough, he could still smell the musky scent of his lover on the pillow of his bed. It was an old bed and Ryo had complained numerously about the creaking noises the metal springs made when they were…well…doing "stuff" on it. Dee had laughed at him, grabbed a fistful of his hair and inhaled the scent. "God, you're beautiful," Dee would tell him before leaning in for another long, warm kiss. 

"Dee…Where the hell are you?"

Eventually, Ryo was lolled to sleep by the quietness. 

* * *

            Ryo couldn't remember how it got so dark. But suddenly it was. 

            Taking a step forward, he felt a hand grab at his ankles. He fell with a thud and began to panic, thrashing about as the hand tightened its hold around his foot.

            He noticed then that the hand was unusually small…like that of…a child. With that realization a head and body emerged. But this thing Ryo beheld was not living. It was a corpse…a corpse of a child. More hands were thrust in front of him, rising from the floorboards. They were decomposing things, moaning because they no longer had mouths with which to speak. 

            Ryo was jerked awake, drenched in sweat and panting. The bed creaking at the thrashing Ryo had done while deep in sleep. It took him a minute of collecting himself to realize the sound that had awakened him had come from him. He had woken up screaming aloud. 

* * *

            "Detective? I had thought you and your people were through with your search."

            Ryo shimmied his way in despite the girth of Kenneth Bosworth blocking his way. He was followed closely by Drake and J.J. whom Ryo was surprised he had been rational enough to call in for back-up. 'God knows I don't feel rational right about now,' Ryo thought. 'Chasing a murderer through my dreams…Well, I guess we'll see in a minute if I'm crazy or not.'

            "Drake, hand me the crowbar."

            Bosworth's eyebrows shot up at that announcement. "Excuse me, but you can't just come in here and tear through my apartment. It's illegal."

            Ryo didn't bother to look at Bosworth when he replied, "I got it 'Okayed' by the landlord, so I guess that means I can. Drake."

            The crowbar was handed to Ryo and he immediately placed it over one of the floorboards in Bosworth's apartment and began to pry it outward. The change in Bosworth was immediate.

            "Stop! What do you think you're doing! Get out of here! You can't do that!" J.J. and Drake struggled to restrain the man as Ryo continued prying the floorboard apart. With one final yank it came undone. 

            Drake's stomach rebelled at the sight. J.J. was stunned into an uncharacteristic silence and Ryo, who had found the now decomposing body of ten-year-old Eric Waters, handcuffed his murderer and lead him away.

* * *

            "Detective Maclane?"

            Ryo gazed up from the newspaper he was reading into the dark eyes of Amanda Johansen. 

            "Amanda!" Ryo greeted the young woman warmly. "Have a seat. Would you like anything to drink?"

            "No thank you, detective. I just wanted to stop by and well, thank you."

            Ryo smiled for what felt like the first time in a long time. "I should be thanking you. If you hadn't come forward with that lead…You are a very brave young lady."

            "Thank you, detective. That is very kind of you to say. I also wanted to stop by and thank you for catching the murderer on behalf of Eric's family."

            "There's no need for that. I'm just sorry there wasn't more I could do," Ryo admitted to her softly. 

Placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, Amanda replied, "You did all you could, detective. What will happen to Bosworth?"

"Six counts of murder and kidnapping with his priors for child molestation? Life without parole or the death penalty."

"Thank you again, detective."

"Thank _you_, Miss Johansen." 

* * *

"Mosh Moshi. This is the Maclane residence. Sorry you missed us, but if you would please leave a message for Randy or Bikky after the tone, we would be happy to promptly return your call. Thank you."

Beep!

"Ryo? Are you there? Please pick up. I'm so sorry I haven't called you... It's been so hectic around here and…please Ryo, I know you're there. Please pick up the telephone. Please-"

Dee was cut off mid plea by the sound of the receiver crackling and being brought close to a mouth. 

"Hi Dee."

A/N: I guess I should now go back and explain what Dee's been up to, eh?


End file.
